Hinged orthopedic braces are commonly employed to stabilize a skeletal joint of a user when the joint has been weakened by injury or other infirmity. The brace typically has a structural frame that is made up of a plurality of rigid or stiffened support components dynamically linked together by one or more hinges to support the joint during user activity. The frame is mounted on the body of a user such that the hinges traverse the joint being stabilized, while the support components are secured to the body by a system of pliant straps. Pads are generally attached to the inside faces of the support components to cushion the contact points between the frame and user's body and to provide a stable base of support for the brace against the user's body.
Foam is often used as the pliant padding material because of the ability of foam to conform to the body of the user. Despite the presence of foam pads, however, the user often experiences discomfort from painful point loads while wearing the brace because of the high compression forces the frame applies to the body at certain contact points during physical activity. Conventional foam pads are either overly compressive or overly stiff, diminishing there cushioning effect. Lightweight foams have not been found which are adequately compressive for the comfort of the user, yet which are sufficiently firm to provide a stable base of support for the brace against the body of the user.
It has been observed that point loads on the lateral knee condyle resulting from hinged knee braces are particularly troublesome. During active use of the brace, there is significant contact between the hinge region of the brace frame and the knee condyles. The lateral knee condyle is especially sensitive to contact because of the presence of the peroneal nerve and fibular head. U.S. Pat. 3,581,741 discloses a hinged knee brace having a foam pad positioned between the upper support member of the brace and the medial knee condyle that is configured in the shape of a doughnut to reduce the point load on the medial knee condyle. The doughnut-shaped foam pad taught therein, however, is unsatisfactory for lateral knee condyle applications because the pad has a continuous peripheral surface that painfully impinges against the fibular head and peroneal nerve at the distal end of the pad when the pad is positioned on the lateral knee condyle.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an orthopedic brace having a structural frame that can be secured to the body of a user with both a high degree of stable support and a high degree of user comfort. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lightweight pad attachable to the frame of an associated orthopedic brace that comfortably stabilizes the frame against the body of the user by dynamically conforming to and firmly gripping the contours of the body while fully cushioning the body contours from the rigid or stiffened support components of the frame. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a knee condyle pad attachable to the frame of an orthopedic knee brace that comfortably stabilizes the frame against the body of the user without applying undue pressure to the knee condyle, and specifically without inducing significant pain in the fibular head or peroneal nerve proximal to the lateral knee condyle.